We have an automotive lighting business. HID is dead end technology, LEDs are getting better every year
All very useful information, thanks people
Recently Iwas asked to re-fit the LED lights on a customers aircraft, it these lights did not have the usual paperwork and clearly are not sold for aircraft use.
As noted above landing lights do not require an ETSO or any other sort of certification so the fitment was leagal from a point of view of fitting.
The problems started when trying to set the lights to the aircraft manufacturers maintenance manual instructions, It became quite clear that an LED light intended for a tractor has a spread of light intended for lighting a field when traveling at 7kts rather than a runway when traveling at 65 kts.
I have no doubt these lights seemed like a bargain at the time probably costing 5 % of the price of an aircraft unit but as they are100% useless for landing an aircraft at night It seems like a very poor bargain.
For HID lamps I know of http://www.loprestiaviation.com/
EASA STC 10055183 (validation of FAA STC SA02279AT) has the PA-28-181 in the AML list
I have them in my Cessna P210 and I’m happy with them.
which makes some sense because these are a regulatory requirement, but the landing light isn’t….
except – how many bureaucrats does one need to change a lightbulb?
Apparently you are correct about landing lights but Navigation & strobe lighting require an ETSO..
A_and_C wrote:
Perhaps a dual channel approach is the way to go. LED lights can be fitted as long as they have an ETSO with just an hours work to do the paperwork ( EASA form 123 )
Landing lights don’t need an ETSO according to CS-STAN.
Is a big light the best way to be conspicuous?
Perhaps a dual channel approach is the way to go. LED lights can be fitted as long as they have an ETSO with just an hours work to do the paperwork ( EASA form 123 )
ADS-B can be enabled in a similar way under CS-STAN as can some of the more inexpensive traffic systems, most of these will detect ADS-B, & mode S emmiting targets as well as having FLARM that detects gliders.
I would guess that 18 watts of LED is approx equivalent to a 60 watt traditional lamp.
What I would be really interested in is say a 40-50 watt LED which would throw out much more light than the original filament lamps.
I also looked around for a HID type but the control gear was often attached to the back of the lamp and wouldn’t fit in a PA28-181. Does anybody know of a much brighter LED or a HID type with separate control gear?
It would be good to fly around with it switched on all of the time to be more conspicuous.
I have just discovered that Greece is blocking access to certain sites, so this is happening closer to home. The solution, of course, is a VPN terminating somewhere where nothing is blocked. The UK is fine for that. What do the 100,000,000 Brits living in Spain do to watch BBC Iplayer, now that Onspeed is gone?
These cheap LEDs don’t sound too great. If you are upgrading, you want the most light you can get, not less. GA lamps are only barely adequate anyway. For example in the TB20 you cannot taxi in total darkness (and with no taxi edge lights) if you have to make a right turn.
